Bayonet band lock for military rifles.



T. O. JOHNSON.

BAYONET BAND LOGK FOR MILITARY RIFLES.

APPLIGATION FILED NOV. 18, 1914.

1,125,024, Patented Jan.12,1915.

: N EA "LnRS CO.. PHOTO-LITHOU WASHINGTON. D, C

STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS C. JOHNSON, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNO-R TO WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS 00., OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION.

BAYONET-BAND LOCK FOR MILITARY RIFLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 12, 1915.

Application filed November 18, 1914. Serial No. 872,720.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, THOMAS C. JOHNSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Bayonet- Band Locks for Military Rifles; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the charactersof reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this application, and represent, in-

Figure 1 a broken view in right-hand side elevation of the muzzle-end of a military rifle provided with a bayonet-band lock con structed in accordance with my invention, the rifle being broken away just to the rear of the bayonet-band. Fig. 2 a similar view with the bayonet-band and bayonetband lock removed to show the recess formed in the right-hand side of the tenon at the forward end of the forearm for the reception of the right-hand bayonet-band lock button. Fig. 3 a View of the rifle in transverse section on the line ab of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 a detached face view of one of the lock-buttons.

My invention relates to an improvement in military rifles, the object being to provide simple, reliable, convenient and inexpensive means for the rigid attachment of the bayonet-band to the forearm so that pulls and thrusts upon the bayonet will be resisted without displacing the bayonet-band or shattering the wooden forearm.

With these ends in view, my invention consists in a bayonet-band lock having certain details of construction as will be hereinafter described and pointed out in the claim.

In carrying out my invention as herein shown, I form two alined circular recesses 2 and 3 in the opposite faces or side walls of the tenon 4 formed integral with the forward end of the wooden forearm 5 which may be of any approved construction, the said recesses 2 and 3 being formed about midway the length of the side walls of the tenon 4 and concentric with the transverse hole 6 formed therein for the reception of the coupling-screw 7 employed to secure the bayonet-band 8 in place upon the tenon 4. The screw 7 is formed at its right-hand end with a fillister head 9 and a threaded shoulder 10 the threads of which take into an internally threaded boss 11 formed upon the right-hand side of the bayonet-band 8 which is formed upon its left-hand side with a corresponding boss 12 receiving the unthreaded extreme left hand end of the screw 7, the bosses 11 and 12 being in line.

The circular locking recesses 2 and 3 aforesaid, are adapted in diameter to respectively receive with a snug fit, two circular button-like bayonet-band locks 13 having flat inner faces but having the lower portions of their outer faces beveled as at 14 to conform to the curvature of the lower half of the tenon 4. The said locks 13 are also formed with central perforations 15 just large enough to permit the couplingscrew 7 to pass through them. The bayonet-band 8 is furnished at its forward end, as shown, with a depending lug 16 to which a bayonet (not shown) is attached in the usual manner. The band 8 is formed at its rear end with. depending lugs 17 and 18 receiving a clamping-screw 19. At its upper end the band is adapted to receive the rifle barrel 20, and the tenon 21 formed upon the forward end of an ordinary barrelcover 22.

Pulls or thrusts upon the bayonet in the direction of its length are transmitted through the band 8 and screw 7 to the locking-buttons 13 snugly embedded in the recesses 2 and 3 in the side walls of the tenon 4 of the forearm 5. The said buttons so far increase the area of resistance to the transmitted bayonet thrusts that they prevent the screw from enlarging the transverse screw-hole 6 by breaking down the front and rear walls of the same as commonly occurs in arms of the type being described when no means are provided for taking up the thrusts upon the screw at a right angle to its length. If the screw is not reinforced by the locking buttons 13, it will, in time, elongate the screw-hole 6 which leads not only to the splitting of the wood but oftentimes to the bending of the screw and always to the working loose of the band.

By making the recesses 2 and 3 circular in form, and concentric with the transverse screw-hole 6, I am able to produce them cheaply and accurately at the time of boring the tenon 4: to form the hole Furthermore, on account of their circular form, the locking buttons 13 may be pressed into the recesses 2 and 3 in which they will be selfretained during the application of the band. They are also easy and cheap to produce on account of their circular form and, as aforesaid, effectually prevent the enlargement of the screw-hole 6 by lateral thrusts upon the screw 7.

I claim In a military arm, the combination with a forearm formed in the side walls of its forward end with alined circular locking-recesses respectively located at the opposite ends of a transverse screw-hole passing through it, of a bayonet-band applied to the forward end of the forearm over the said recesses therein, two perforated bayonet-band locks respectively located in the said recesses, and a coupling-screw passing through the said band, locks and screw-hole, whereby thrusts or pulls upon the band are prevented from longitudinally enlarging the screw-hole.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

THOMAS C. JOHNSON.

Witnesses:

M. P. NICHOLS, I C. L. WEED.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents- Washington, D. 0. 

